Kind of a adult topic in this chapter with dark-ish themes.
xoxo Jules
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Chapter 12: "Anyway the wind blows"
Summers POV: Instead of taking a test
When we got back to the Cohen's house it was pretty awkward even for me. I can usually fix something with a dirty joke but that would not be appropriate considering what almost happened tonight.
We all huddled in the living room in what can only be described as an awkward silence. I had a feeling that something was about to change, but I couldn't for the life of me figure what.
I sat on the couch and Marissa sat beside me resting her head in my shoulder, quickly falling asleep. I wasn't sure how long we were there before Luke, who was leaning against the couch with Alex beside him broke the silence.
"So this has been an eventful night." He spoke up.
We all lamely nodded.
"Yeah." Seth said putting his hands on his knees. "I don't know about you guys but sleep sounds pretty good right now." Seth said looking around the clutter of unsure teens.
"I don't know. I think that I just may want to sit for awhile." I said as I stroked Marissa's hair.
"I'll stay up with you." Alex said giving me a sad smile. "Luke you staying here tonight?" She asked her best friend who shrugged in return. "You Seth and Ryan crash in the pool house, you know where the extra blankets and everything are."
"What about you guys?" Ryan asked
"We'll be fine." I said. I noticed how he checked back at Marissa quickly before he followed Seth and Luke to the pool house.
I have no idea how long Alex and I sat in silence. I watched Marissa twitch in her sleep. She did it all of the time, I wonder what she's dreaming about. I doubt by the troubled look that she always has on her face that it is anything good.
"If you're getting tired I can get some blankets or something…" Alex offered me.
"No thanks, I'm fine." I said honestly, but the last thing that I wanted was for Alex to go through anymore trouble for us. She had taken us in, temporarily anyway but still. It was more than any regular person would have done.
"Do you think that Marissa will be okay?" Alex asked, her eyes meeting mine.
I paused for a second before I nodded.
"Yeah, she's going to be alright, well at least as alright as she ever was." I said with an internal sigh.
"So what's the deal with all of you?" Alex asked somewhat catching me off guard.
"What do you mean?" I asked
"Well I mean everybody has a story." Alex questioned. "I mean, if you don't wan-"
"No." I said cutting her off. "It's fine, honestly I swear."
The problem is I don't think that I even know my story. I mean I know the basics, my name is Summer… Summer Roberts.
"My mom had me when she was sixteen. She didn't know who my father was. When she got pregnant with me her parent's kicked her out of the house. She lived on the streets or did whatever she had to go get a room for the night… whatever she had to. She never really wanted me, she used me to soften guys up… to get what she wanted… I spent most of my time at my grandmothers house until she died when I was three. After that I was just left with my mother."
Alex watched me as she listened intently.
"She never really paid any attention to me… the only people who ever did were her boyfriends. I was six, and he was… big… a lot bigger than me, I was sleeping in my room one night, crying after I had been to the store with my mother and there was this stuffed kitten, I begged her for it, she ignored me…"
June 1993:
I can't believe that mommy wouldn't buy me the kitty. She never buys me nothing! It's not fair, all's she ever cares about is Al cause Al gives her things but nobody ever gives me things. Maybe I'll go back and take it and put it in my bag when nobody's looking. Mama does that sometimes.
"What's your problem girl?" Al said when he stepped into my bedroom which was just a large walk in closet with blankets on the floor. I hadn't even noticed him come in.
He was big and greasy and smelled of smoke. His finger nails we black with dirty and yellow from smoking.
"Whadda ya want?" I said fiercely, still angry about the cat.
"Nothing." He said crouching next to me… and then he did something that nobody ever did before. He wiped a tear from my eye.
"Where's mama?" I asked caught off guard by the new situation.
"She's at the club." Al informed me "Here, give me a hug," He said pulling me onto his lap and holding me close. '"I don't like to see you sad." He said to me shifting me on his lap and pulling a box off of a shelf.
"KITTY!" I cried grabbing the box from his arms. "Thank you Al!" I said wrapping my arms tightly around his neck.
I was about to skip off and play with my toy when Al grabbed my wrist.
"Aren't you gonna thank me?" He asked his eyes turning dark.
"I DID thank you!" I said with an innocent smile.
"You know what you saw your mama doing to me last night on the couch? The thing that made me really happy?" Al asked
"Yeah, when you was on the couch and mamas head was movin' on you real funny?" I asked
"Yeah, that. That's how you're gonna thank your uncle Al." Al said unzipping his jeans, my eyes got big.
End of flashback
Alex sat in shock, but nodded understanding.
"It is amazing how sick people can be." She commented.
"Yeah." I said honestly. Ever since that night I always related getting what I wanted to sex. There was a point when I was around 10 t just became a means for survival.
September 1996:
I sat at the table doing homework. It always distracted me from what was going on around me. When my moms "friend" walked out of her room naked and headed towards the bathroom he winked at me. I cringed on the inside but gave him the smile that mama had taught me back to him.
Mama came out of her bedroom and sat next to me at the table. She had a distraught look on her face.
"What's wrong mom?" I asked looking up from my homework
"The rent's do and I ain't got it." She told me
"Whadda you gonna do?" I asked childishly
"What am I gonna do! I ain't the only one who lives here Summer! I gave you all I could for the past nine years!"
"I know mom!" I said expecting her to swing her hand across the table and hit me.
"The land lords been asking about you." My mother then said
I got a lump in my throat.
"Has he?" I asked dumbly know full well what my mother was asking… rather telling me.
"He's coming over at six. He wants you ready then, go wash up…"
At this point I knew better than to argue.
"Alright mom." I said putting my homework away, I guess it won't be finished tonight.
"Oh and Baby, one more thing?" My mom said
"Yeah mama?"
"Put your hair in pig tails for me will ya baby?"
"Alright mother." I said shivering as left the room.
End of Flashback
I stroked my hands in Marissa's hair. I had never talked to anyone about all of that before. I think that it might have been a good thing, and Alex just may have been the best person to tell all of this too.
"I've never talked to anyone about any of this before." I confessed to Alex who was unsure how to respond, and then she spoke.
"I am glad that you trust me." Alex said pulling her knees up to her chest. "I guess we all have our secrets." She finished
"Oh do we?" Summer asked raising an eyebrow.
The next chapter will be Alex's POV with what happened to her, most likely then followed by Marissa's.
xoxo Jules
Lemme know what you think!